Manfred: the re-making of a masterpiece

Moscow. January 1868. The Great Hall of the Nobles. Hector Berlioz conducts triumphant performances of Beethoven’s
PastoralSymphony, as well as his own
Symphonie Fantastiqueand
Harold in Italy, the quasi-symphonic viola concerto based on Byron’s
Childe Harold. Although no more than “a little white bird with pince-nez,” according to Rimsky-Korsakov who was there, the Russians took the desiccated Berlioz and his wild music to their hearts. Mily Balakirev prepared the chorus for the concerts, and at the banquet...

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Ahead of his trip to Tasmania, the young American virtuoso extols the joys of Tchaikovsky’s Concerto and defends it from the criticisms of its first dedicatee, Leopold Auer, and the venomous Eduard Hanslick.